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Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#431

Post by ProZsolt »

vatotemking wrote: post #266

Use procrastination against itself. So basically, when procrastinating, we tend to justify our inactions: just 1 more minute on Twitter, just one last scroll on my newfeed, lemme just check this subreddit really quick. With reverse procrastination, you trick your brain into doing your intended task: Ok lemme just open Visual Studio Code and edit this one file then im good, I'll just change this one line of code, I'll…

I usually have my current project opened in Visual Studio Code at a separate desktop, so I can just swipe right and start coding. If there is an easy task I can complete quickly(not a lot of thinking) to hook me in it is pretty efficient.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#432

Post by ken »

Izkata wrote: post #254
ken wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used Dvorak for the past few decades. As suggested by one of the other comments, it took about 2 weeks to learn well enough to get back to my normal speed (>80wpm). It makes a massive difference in comfort. 5 minutes typing at full speed on QWERTY and my wrists start to hurt. (I really don't know how people do it.) On Dvorak, I can type all day at full speed with no pain at all. Surprisingly, the keyboard hardwa…

> 5 minutes typing at full speed on QWERTY and my wrists start to hurt. (I really don't know how people do it.) Wrist-bending to maintain the home row, I suspect. I have a different, self-taught style that partially involves holding my hands above the keyboard and using muscles all along my arms to move my hands without bending my wrists much - never had any problems.

It sounds like you're describing standard typing posture. Is your wrist position different than that somehow?

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#433

Post by vharish »

malkosta wrote: post #327

Ctrl + space (browser) Alt + space (terminal) On Firefox: Spacebar (pagedown) | Shift + spacebar (pageup) | Ctrl + tab (cycle between last recent opened tabs) | Cmd + number (go to tab of number) | Cmd + K (go to search box) | Cmd + L (go to address bar) Use Vim and forget the mouse

Why not try vimum or similar for Firefox?

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#435

Post by mekster »

naavis wrote: post #31
nikivi wrote: post #12

I usually comment with the same thing on these tip threads. And that is learn to rebind your keyboard. Make each key programmable modifier. Open apps, run scripts/macros instantly. My Karabiner config: https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karab... I go as far as binding keys to instantly type `console.log()` or `fmt.Println()` or the other language equivalent with my dot modifier key. Plus typing th…

One thing I worry about with these extremely customized keyboard configs and such is that once you get used to them, you will have a hard time using any other computer when you suddenly need to. Maybe this isn't such a big problem with physical keyboards, but can be with e.g. text editor configs, which you can't take along if you need to SSH into many servers during a workday and work with whatever is installed there…

I always find this argument nonsense. Most people will be on their computer for 99% of the time and sacrificing for the rest of 1% doesn't make sense. I had a colleague who had been using vim without customization because of that reason and he's always on his computer but I find the reasoning very odd.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#436

Post by hydroxonium »

ken wrote: post #205
maerF0x0 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to subthread hear from people if alternate keyboard layouts have made a difference. ?

I've used Dvorak for the past few decades. As suggested by one of the other comments, it took about 2 weeks to learn well enough to get back to my normal speed (>80wpm). It makes a massive difference in comfort. 5 minutes typing at full speed on QWERTY and my wrists start to hurt. (I really don't know how people do it.) On Dvorak, I can type all day at full speed with no pain at all. Surprisingly, the keyboard hardwa…

Same here. Dvorak is so much more ergonomic than QWERTY.

Wrist discomfort with QWERTY completely disappeared upon switching to Dvorak.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#437

Post by ProZsolt »

mekster wrote: post #372
kortex wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Used to love Python. Now, unless it has type hints, not so much. Used to hate static types, or at least I thought I did. Really, I just hated C++ and Java. Go is Bae, trying to learn some rust. Computers are rigid. The more rigid the lang you talk to them, the less you get bitten. Untyped python, bash, javascript, just not worth it imho.

It seems type hinting is coming to Ruby 3, which im looking forward to.

I like Ruby for prototyping and quick throwaway scrips. I can write code really fast in it. Still my favorite language. But reading unfamiliar code or cooperating with others is hard. This is a good step forward in that direction.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#438

Post by mekster »

unexaminedlife wrote: post #132

I have such a simple setup but it's not for everyone. It also fails miserably if I'm working in an environment where I can't do almost everything I need to do from the command-line. 1) VIM with almost no special .vimrc 2) gnu screen (10 screens initialized via .screenrc) - hotkeys Ctrl-Left (prev), Ctrl-Right (next) - I tweak my $PS1 prompt so it will display which $WINDOW I'm on. 3) Not a tool, but a tip. Maintain a…

vim has like the worst default setting than any other app in existence in my opinion and I cannot figure why anyone would want to stick to it.

Unless you have 5+ years of muscle memory (learnt with pain), all the shortcuts are too confusing.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#439

Post by mekster »

mmorris wrote: post #143

Get out of the habit of watching TV. Some downtime is important and healthy, but it is too easy to waste hours and stay up late staring at a television. Not a developer tip specifically, but not wasting time and sleeping well is the best way to improve your efficiency at everything.

Agree. I only watch TV when with family a few times a year. Never had one for 15 years myself.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#440

Post by mekster »

analog31 wrote: post #115
MauranKilom wrote: post #107

- Your eyes are the only broadband connection into the brain, and they have millenia of pattern recognition training built into them. When solving problems like debugging, refactoring or data preparation, consider arranging information in a way that takes advantage of this. When it's in the right shape, irregularities or patterns will often just jump at you. - Relatedly, your eyes are also extremely well-adapted to d…

Oddly enough I can't use IDE's. They simply throw way too much information on the screen, and my brain gets overloaded. So I have to sheepishly confess that I do my programming in IDLE. There, I said it. But I think a take-home lesson is that the "right" visual environment is a function of your eyes and your brain, and might not necessarily be the most sophisticated environment.

> They simply throw way too much information on the screen

You can usually just hide them. I hide everything but the file explorer, the code itself and recently I turned on line numbers but no tool bar or task bar or that distracting mini map which I feel it serves no purpose than being cool for some people.

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